Books

Book Review: “Lou Reed: The King of New York” — The First Monarch of Indie/Alt Rock

October 19, 2023
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Will Hermes reveres Lou Reed’s music, and he expounds on his love in this voluminous, well-researched biography.

Book Review: “Pleading Out: How Plea Bargaining Creates a Permanent Criminal Class”

October 17, 2023
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Dan Canon provides not only the statistics but powerful stories to demonstrate the extent to which plea bargaining has bankrupted the justice system

Book Review: “Satori in Paris” — A Minor Work From an Undisputed Alpha Beat

October 16, 2023
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Jack Kerouac’s best work is often driven by a hunger for spiritual nourishment: the soul food his protagonists occasionally find in friendships, in jazz, in oceanic moments of oneness.

Book Review: Sofia Coppola’s “Archive” — An Invaluable Exploration of Feminine Creativity

October 11, 2023
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“Archive” sprung from Sofia Coppola’s desire to record what her mind’s organized chaos says about her and her films.

Book Review: “That’s a Pretty Thing to Call It” — Prose & Poetry by Artists Teaching in Carceral Institutions

October 8, 2023
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These essays and poems present incarcerated men and women as nothing more or less than our fellow humans.

Book Review: Filmmaker Werner Herzog’s Memoir — The Profound Voice of a Master

October 7, 2023
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Werner Herzog likes the odds in “Every Man for Himself and God Against All.”

Book Review: “The Short End of the Sonnenallee” — A Sure Satiric Brush

October 4, 2023
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Cockeyed anecdotes roam merrily through a satiric tale set in an East Germany that’s too larky to be oppressive.

Poetry Review: “Aquamarine” — Stonecutter’s Craft

October 3, 2023
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Valerie Duff’s polished style is thoughtful and observant, her fluent voice compressed and controlled. She constructs meticulous lines with (to borrow one of her phrases from these pages) a “stonecutter’s precision.”

Book Review: “American Purgatory” — Prison as a Form of Social Control

September 30, 2023
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“American Purgatory” is the sort of book reactionary politicians and organizations are trying to ban. It’s full of evidence that many of the attitudes and conditions prevalent in this country from its founding were racist, bigoted, even genocidal.

Children’s Book Reviews: Two Superb Looks at Musical Innovators

September 27, 2023
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These picture books explore music history and an avant-garde composer who challenged convention.

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